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Michael Donald
A landmark lawsuit prompted the Southern Poverty Law Center to build a memorial to commemorate those who died during the Civil Rights Movement.
Michael Donald was walking to a store in Mobile, Alabama, in 1981 when two Klansmen abducted him. They beat him, cut his throat and hung his body from a tree. He was only 19.
In a groundbreaking lawsuit, the Center proved that the United Klans of America was responsible for Donald's death. This same organization committed some of the worst hate violence during the civil rights era, including the church bombing that killed four girls in Birmingham in 1963 and the slaying of Viola Liuzzo during the Selma-to-Montgomery voting rights march in 1965.
In 1987, an all-white jury awarded Donald's mother $7 million. This historic verdict put the United Klans out of business and forced the group to turn over its headquarters to Bealah Mae Donald, the victim's mother. |